Dead Rising – Too Evil For German Gamers?

Germany‘s institution BPjM (formerly BPjS) is notorious for putting games on their “index”, meaning they aren’t allowed to be advertised anymore and can only be sold “under the table” to persons over 18 years of age. When publishers need to change people into robots to comply with German laws, you pretty much know what happens when you come up with something like Dead Rising. Recent reports indicate that the game has already been “banned”, but that term is a bit too vague.

The USK (similar to the ESRB) did not give Dead Rising an age rating, meaning it is not approved for people under 18 years. This does not equal a “ban”, where the game gets drawn from shelves and is not allowed to be promoted, but due to Microsoft‘s policy not to license companies publishing unrated games on the Xbox 360, Dead Rising won’t be published in Germany anyway – so in the end, we get the same situation we would have with a full ban.

The BPjM has been proven highly unpopular with German gamers for a long time. Their stance regarding violence is comparable to the one of US departments when it comes to sexual content. While Germany has recently changed laws, giving adult games a bit more room and freedom, most people are still not satisfied. Microsoft doesn’t exactly help in that regard by not publishing unrated AAA-titles. The only option that remains for the Germans now is to get the UK version of Dead Rising.

Via GamePolitics

Germany‘s institution BPjM (formerly BPjS) is notorious for putting games on their “index”, meaning they aren’t allowed to be advertised anymore and can only be sold “under the table” to persons over 18 years of age. When publishers need to change people into robots to comply with German laws, you pretty much know what happens when you come up with something like Dead Rising. Recent reports indicate that the game has already been “banned”, but that term is a bit too vague.

The USK (similar to the ESRB) did not give Dead Rising an age rating, meaning it is not approved for people under 18 years. This does not equal a “ban”, where the game gets drawn from shelves and is not allowed to be promoted, but due to Microsoft‘s policy not to license companies publishing unrated games on the Xbox 360, Dead Rising won’t be published in Germany anyway – so in the end, we get the same situation we would have with a full ban.

The BPjM has been proven highly unpopular with German gamers for a long time. Their stance regarding violence is comparable to the one of US departments when it comes to sexual content. While Germany has recently changed laws, giving adult games a bit more room and freedom, most people are still not satisfied. Microsoft doesn’t exactly help in that regard by not publishing unrated AAA-titles. The only option that remains for the Germans now is to get the UK version of Dead Rising.

Via GamePolitics